The teenage environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg has turned down a major environmental award and prize money because "the climate movement does not need any more awards".

In an Instagram post explaining her decision to turn down the prize money - more than $75,000 Australian, nothing to sneeze at - she described the Nordic Council's award as a "great honor".  However, she said, "politicians and the people in power" need to listen to the "current, best-available science".

Greta also criticized Nordic nations for not living up to their international reputations for living green, citing a WWF report saying that Sweden and the nordic region behaves as if the Earth has the resources of four planets.

"There is no lack of bragging about this.  There is no lack of beautiful words.  But when it comes to our actual emissions and our ecological footprints per capita," she lamented, "then it's a whole other story."

The Nordic Council said it respected her decision.

Ms. Thunberg has rallied millions to her "Fridays for Future" movement which grew out of her lone protest outside Sweden's parliament in August 2018, holding a sign reading "School strike for climate".